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Touting an undergraduate degree in political science and Japanese studies from the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA in international business from Thunderbird School of Global Management, Nathan spent nine years working for global investment banks in New York, Japan and London. She worked with trading institutional equity derivatives before designing and facilitating worldwide training programs.<\/span><\/p>\n Nathan\u2019s corporate rise remained undaunted until the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. Located seven blocks from the World Trade Center, the former California resident found herself walking home shrouded in ash and debris after witnessing the fall of the North Tower. During the 10-mile trek to the Upper Westside, Nathan said she realized that she was being held captive by Wall Street\u2019s lure.<\/p>\n \u201cThe handcuffs were gold and beautiful,\u201d she said. \u201cBut they were still handcuffs. 9\/11 solidified my desire to leave. I walked away within months at age 33 never wondering \u2018what if?\u2019 because I had already proven my success.\u201d<\/p>\n Nathan returned to North Park and worked as chief operations officer for her family\u2019s 20-year-old promotional products company. Six years later, convinced that she served her purpose applying her corporate world experience to benefit her parents\u2019 small business, Nathan searched in earnest for her passion.<\/p>\n \u201cI left sexy, lucrative Wall Street because it wasn\u2019t my passion, so I knew that I couldn\u2019t continue working with my parents,\u201d she said. \u201cI didn\u2019t have the flexibility not to work so I questioned, \u2018What would I do if I didn\u2019t have to earn a living?\u2019 The answer was easy, run a philanthropy or marry people.\u201d<\/p>\n Nathan launched Ceremonies by Bethel in 2009 with immediate success. The \u201coff-chance\u201d idea began when her brother and his fianc\u00e9e asked her to officiate their upcoming nuptials. The couple requested an interfaith, non-religious ceremony that would celebrate their love. Nathan\u2019s experience as a public speaker propelled her into agreement. And in true Bethel fashion, she researched religious, non-religious, traditional and non-traditional ceremonies while assigning homework to the couple.<\/p>\n \u201cI initiated assignments that I still use today,\u201d she explained. \u201cTheir homework is a two-part process that consists of questions \u2014 answered separately \u2014 to pull in their voices as couples share how the relationship differs between them from the beginning of their relationship, to what it is, and what lies in their future. The exercises remind couples why they\u2019re getting married which can easily get lost when planning the party. Part two details vows, rings, readings, creative visuals and all components that personalize the ceremony. I write services based on what speaks to each couple and what they\u2019re willing to share.\u201d<\/p>\n Nathan\u2019s new venture proved to be a smash hit. Requests poured in and Nathan knew she had found her niche. To date, Nathan has officiated 665 weddings. Winning rave awards from WeddingWire and The Knot, the industries\u2019 leading online and hard copy magazines, led Nathan in 2013 to create an offspring business venture, Asked to Officiate<\/a>, with her husband Jason. The duo create and sell products and services nationwide to couples who seek a friend or family member to marry them.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a spectrum of couples looking for something different because the norm doesn\u2019t speak to them,\u201d Nathan noted. \u201cI celebrate all that couples share in front of those who matter most with a genuine and personal ceremony.\u201d<\/p>\n Nathan offers a variety of ceremonies including Ring Warmings, Stone Blessings, Rose, Breaking of the Glass, Box with Wine and Love Letters.<\/p>\n \u201c\u201cEvery ceremony is different because every couple is different,\u201d she said. \u201cNo matter how off-beat, couples can assimilate their personality into any tradition to give it a personal and cool meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n While Ceremonies by Bethel remains a smashing success, Nathan finds time for philanthropy and community service.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve participated in the Susan G. Komen, Three-Day Breast Cancer Walk, including serving on its board of directors and San Diego\u2019s Race for the Cure, doing all that I can,\u201d she concluded. \u201cI\u2019m also a proud member of the San Diego\u2019s Women\u2019s Foundation, a group of women who work together as a collective philanthropy \u2014 to make a bigger impact together than I could ever make by myself.\u201d<\/p>\n Handfasting Ceremony<\/strong><\/p>\n A Celtic tradition adopted and adapted for modern weddings. Couples tie a knot of rope, ribbons, or a hybrid of both. Vows or promises \u2014 traditional and those written by the couples \u2014 are spoken as ribbons are wrapped around their joined arms. Couples choose colors based on personal preference.<\/p>\n Salt Covenant<\/strong><\/p>\n Historically agreements were sealed by a salt covenant \u2014 pinches of salt placed into a bottle. Agreements could only be broken when salt grains were removed by each individual. Due to such impossibility, promises become eternal, enduring and forever abiding. \u201cAs these grains of salt are forever joined together, couples are forever joined as partners in life,\u201d Nathan explained.<\/p>\n Sand Ceremony <\/strong><\/p>\n Popular in California, Florida and Hawaii, couples blend two colors of sand. \u201cJust as these grains of sand can never be separated and poured again into the individual containers, so will the marriage be,\u201d Nathan said. Children blending into one family can also pour colored sand on top of the couple\u2019s layer or the family pours the sand together. The sand is kept as a forever keepsake and often displayed like a framed wedding photograph.<\/p>\n Tasting the Four Elements<\/strong><\/p>\n Couples taste four elements during this African-American wedding tradition. Lemon represents the sour; vinegar the bitter; cayenne pepper the hot; and honey the sweet and delicious; symbolic to love for better or worse, for richer or poorer, and in sickness and health. Couples can substitute chocolate; pure cacao as the raw and bitter; key lime white chocolate for the harsh and sour; spicy Mayan chocolate for the fiery and exciting; and honeycomb chocolate for the sweet and delicious. \u201cSuch are the elements of life, love, and now marriage,\u201d said Nathan. \u201cInevitably, there will be sour and bitter. But what\u2019s life without the crazy and spontaneous to make it fun? We wrap end this ritual with the words, \u2018As I expect many of us have learned, with the right partner at our side, not only can we handle all of the tastes that life brings our way, but it makes life better than we ever even imagined it could be!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>
(Photo by True Photography Weddings)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n